THE HESPERIAN
it, or fire the whole outfin thcrcss plenty of
kids."
"But yon sec, brother, " our dear old
"Boss" replied1' "Theyrc all just boys"
and for him that covered a multitude of sins
"ItM kill Dingus mother for him to lose
his place, and Mike's mother, too, may be$
I'll talk to them, though.1"
It was a week before he found time to
talk with them, and then Well the next
day "the little mother of Dingus" as "the
scribbler" named her at first sights came to
the store. It was the first time she had been
there and Tm afraid we all stared. She
slipped quietly in and asked at the door for
Willie Marks".
It was then thai wu saw Dingus smile
a smile that made his ugly old face look like
a child s, till we thought him almost beauti
ful. He took her in it was against the
rules, but no one thought of that and gave
her his stool, while he stood by her with his
arms about her neck and sometimes brushed
her hair softly. We wondered as we looked
if this were our wild Dingus.
Bye and bye he brought her to the office
to see Mr. Stoker. The look in her large
child-like eyes went straight to our hearts.
"The scribbler" jumped down off his stool
and offered her a chair as if she were a prin
cess. The office somehow grew so quiet
while she sat there waiting, that we were
half glad when Mr. Stoker came to take her
into his private office. We could hear part
of what he said, but not one throb of her
low, soft voice reached us, and we heard it
only when she said to Dingos as she put her
hand on his shoulder 'Como, my boy."
She gave us a timid half smile out of tear
blinded eyes as she passed us and went on
down the stairs with Dingus. After that
we said "the little mother of Dingus1'' often
and "the seribbler,,, made no comment.
We wondered the next morning when
Dingus was not there, and finally asked Mr.
Stoker, though "the scribbler" said "women
were sneb curious ercatnr:s, but Mr. Stoker
did not hear.
It was Uncle Bob that told me when he
came in to empty the waste basket that
evening.
"Willie Marks is sick, Miss, been sick
a long time. Them fellers kicked him down
one night and 1105 been lame ever since,
you sec. And his mother told me yisterday
that he cant work no more and the doctor
says he can't cure him ever. It's that Miss,
that" And he picked up the basket and
went down the stairs shaking his head.
A few days later a new young man stood
behind Dingus 'counters and smirked at the
pretty girls. We did not know his name,
so we waited for "the scribbler"' to get him
classified. We missed Dingus, missed his
quickness and agility and missed him anyway
we found, because we had all come to like
him so, as Uncle Bob had done first of all.
Every once in a while he told us of Dingus.
"He's been down abed now, Miss, and
his little hands are soft as a baby?.
"His mother is like an angel, and when
she sings soft to him, he lies so still.
Hc wants tcr see you. Miss, won't yon
let me show you the way tonight?"
And so I went to see Dingus, and after
that often. Sometimes Uncle Bob went
along, sometimes Mr. Stoker, but once the
"scribbler" offered his services "A beastly
region of the town, you know'
But Dingus' home was clean, :f it was up
five flights of dark stairs, and the sun-light
lingered all day by the winnow where he
sat sometimes. He could not frisk about
now, only his thin wihite hands kept moving
all the time, till the scribbler" just for
luck, he said, bought some wonderful color
ed building blocks, which could make a
"hundred mansions of palatial dimensions.'"
With those Dingus played and with the
paper work the girls at the ribbon counter
sent him. But he liked best to whittle with
the wonderful knife Mike and the other boys
bought one day, and brought to him in a
body.
Always the little mother of Dingus was
'there, pale, with often now, that tear blind-